Buck Naked Politics

Gas Prices (and Exxon's Profits) are High; Hillary has Something to Say About that

by D. Cupples |  Today, I bought gas in North Florida: $3.79 a gallon for regular, up about 83 cents since early February.  Friday, Exxon Mobil reported quarterly profits of $10.9 billion.  Last quarter, Exxon listed the highest quarterly profits in U.S. corporate history ($11.66 billion), as well as record-high annual profits of  $40.66 billion in 2007.

Exxon's share prices fell anyway, because analysts had expected even performance. 

While it's nice to know that we consumers are helping pay for record-high oil company profits again, that's not all we're helping pay for.

High Prices at the Gas Pumps? All You Need is Straight Talk (& a Gas Tax Holiday)

Posted by Damozel | Put McCain in charge of the economy, STAT!  It turns out that the solution to rising gas prices is a little straight talk and a psychological boost in the form of suspension of the gas tax:

I propose that the federal government suspend all taxes on gasoline now paid by the American people — from Memorial Day to Labor Day of this year. The effect will be an immediate economic stimulus…. [B]ecause the cost of gas affects the price of food, packaging, and just about everything else, these immediate steps will help to spread relief across the American economy.” (Crooks and Liars)

"Why Does Al Gore Hate the Press?"

 Posted by Damozel | The question is plangently posed, and apparently with a straight face, by The Silicon Valley Insider.

Al Gore is speaking at the RSA security conference in San Francisco this afternoon. But good luck finding out what he says: Reporters are banned from the event.

We don't know what's more disheartening: The fact that the former veep is trying to keep a trade show talk private -- or that this isn't the first time he's been oddly press-shy.

Climate Change Tipping Point: Sooner than We Think?

Posted by Damozel |   Just when you were thinking things couldn't get any worse, this:

"The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades."(New York Times)

Gas Prices Up, Company Profits High

by D. Cupples |  Exxon Mobil listed $11.6 billion in quarterly profits -- the highest ever in U.S. corporate history -- and had record annual profits of $40.66 billion in 2007.   That's about half of Florida's entire annual budget, Florida being the fourth largest state in our nation.

Profits, of course, are the amount left over after a company pays all of its expenses, including executive salaries, bonuses and perks.  Perks can be huge, even beyond the use of corporate crash pads and jets. In 2006, for example, Exxon's ex-CEO Lee Raymond got a $400 million retirement package. 

By May 2007, we ordinary Americans paid the highest-ever gas prices -- part of which funded executive perks such as Raymond's.  CNN reports:

Bush's Middle East Trip: Nothing Accomplished?

by D. Cupples |  Based on President Bush's itinerary, former Mid East Ambassador Marc Ginsberg suspects that the president accomplished nothing substantive for our nation during his recent Mid-East tour:

"I hope I am wrong, and that facts will bear out that there was no pecuniary motive to Bush's grand tour other than a long-overdue effort by him to vainly attempt to repair the damage his administration has wrought on U.S. interests in the Middle East. Except I just cannot come up with anything tangible that Bush actually accomplished on the trip and neither can his WH [White House] coterie briefing the accompanying press pool." ("That Saudi Funded West Wing?" at Huffington Post)